The virus which was reportedly first noticed in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1976, when it killed several hundreds in that region, visited the country again in 1995 killing many. It made an unwelcome reappearance in West Africa earlier this year and has left over 900 people dead in its wake. Its reoccurrence over decades apart indicates that it can be curtailed, while on the other hand, it can resurface at varying intervals. Its spread from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone and now Nigeria demonstrates its ability as an unwanted epidemic While there are conflicting reports about the time of its re-emergence this year, what is agreed upon is that Ebola is a disease that doesn’t discriminate and therefore can inhabit and exterminate both humans and animals. Records show that it can be transmitted from one animal to another, from animals to human beings and from one human being to another. It is able to achieve this through the exchange of liquid discharges such as blood, urine, semen, vomit and/or mucus into the victim’s mouth or broken skin. This makes it a health worker’s nightmare. Sierra Leone’s chief doctor for the disease recently contracted it weeks ago while three of the nurses working with him have already been ‘murdered’ by the disease. In Nigeria, so far, the nurse who treated Sawyer has died while nine others have been infected. In all, it is left to be seen how Nigerian health care workers are going to react to this menace – strike or no – which would involve putting their own lives and that of their associates in danger.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 14:35:47 +0000
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